


Youth

by ReaperOfAngels



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Reveal, eventually, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 18:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16373141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaperOfAngels/pseuds/ReaperOfAngels
Summary: Mmmmm you ready for some angst? The first chapter is a bit of awkwardness, nothing too major. It goes downhill from there, okay?





	Youth

**Author's Note:**

> Shadows settle on the place, that you left  
> Our minds are troubled by the emptiness  
> Destroy the middle, it's a waste of time  
> From the perfect start to the finish line
> 
> This chapter isn't depressing, but it'll get depressing. I assure you.

No. 

This  _wasn't_ happening.

This terrible day was all just a dream! Yeah, that's what it was, and he would wake up soon, and Marinette would be okay.

That's what Chat told himself as he looked on in horror as he saw Marinette get crushed by an omnibus, her lower half pressed under it, and he had no doubt that Marinette's bones were broken so horribly that she would never be able to walk again, and that was a thought that made his blood run cold. Marinette was one of his first and closest friends and seeing her be so...  _disrespected_ made his blood go from cold to boiling.

That wasn't the only bad thing that had happened today, not by a long shot. He couldn't even remember what today was, but he knew that he would come to hate it with all that was happening. He had woken up late and was to school late, to which he got teased by his peers for being a lazy rich kid, even though that was the  _very first time_ he had  _ever_ been late in his whole university career. Then he got into a fight with Nino, of all people, over something he couldn't even remember right now. AND THEN, Marinette had come up to him with something like a gift and he said something so utterly stupid and she looked so dejected that it broke his heart.

Ah, that's what today was.  _Valentine's_.

Chat regarded it with disgust. Something else that had happened today was Ladybug hadn't shown up for patrol, and when he called via his baton and had surprisingly got an answer, she had been crying. She told him she wouldn't be coming, and that she was sorry, but she couldn't handle being around people right then and hung up on him. Having to see the love of his life sobbing was enough to make his day go from mortifying to downright  _awful_.

And now, one of his best friends was being crushed.

He let out an angry yell and tossed his baton at the Akuma, watching as it punctured its giant eye and it let out a cry of pain as dark blood began to gush from the point it had been punctured. Chat then turned and began to run to Marinette, only to freeze when she saw her struggling, looking more angry than horrified.

" _Ugh_. First, I try and confess to Adrien and it goes  _worse_ than I ever thought it could, then Chat calls me all worried and shit to remind me there's someone who loves me more than anyone else has _ever_ bothered to, and doesn't that just break a girl's heart? What did I do to deserve him!" She growled, pushing at the bus, and Chat blinked, blushing, looking confused. He had... never called Marinette? " _And then this stupid Akuma has the gall-_ UGH! FUCK THIS! TIKKI, SPOTS ON, RIGHT NOW!" She yelled and soon she was enveloped in a beautiful pink light that left Ladybug in her wake.

Ladybug, in the new suit she had only fully developed last week after months and months of making small, deliberate changes that she willed into existence with the help of her kwami.

 _Marinette_ , whose hair went from tied back in a high ponytail to down low in a smooth braid, resting over her shoulder.

Because  _of course_ , it was Marinette.

They had the same eyes, the same hair, the same laugh, the same squeals, the same interests, the same stories (even if Ladybug's stories were vaguer than Marinette's), the same fashion sense; she knew all of his classmates' names, all of his  _teachers'_ names, and Marinette reactions to him as Chat Noir were as calm and playful as Ladybug's reactions were.

 _Of course_ , it was Marinette.

Chat Noir could only watch as Ladybug heaved the bus off of her and jumped up, dusting herself off, then looked up to the giant Akuma. Oh boy, if looks could kill...

Ladybug then looked at him and saw his starstruck expression, then looked to the Akuma, then at the bus, then back at him again. All the while, her look was slowly changing from vicious fury to one of mortified horror. 

"U-Uh... Chat... How... How long have you been standing there?" She asked meekly, looking terrified of his answer.

Chat Noir stared at her, wide-eyed. But he couldn't bring himself to be mad at Marinette.  _I mean_ , said the voice in his head that people typically called  _thinking_ that sounded an awful lot like Plagg sometimes, just as it did now,  _it's not like you weren't hiding from her either._

And wasn't that just the most awful feeling?

His stomach lurched, and he could only bring himself to utter a few simple words that might get him killed or kissed later, depending on how things played out. "A few minutes." He said, swallowing thickly.

"So you saw-" And at his nod, Ladybug groaned and turned red. She mumbled something he couldn't hear before lifting her head back up, her eyes filled with determination. "We'll deal with that later. Right now, we have to get rid of this Akuma before it destroys half the city!" She yelled, then launched herself away. Chat only barely recognized this and leaped to follow her. This... would be a very interesting conversation. 

* * *

The Akuma was dealt with, and Paris was safe once more, and the superheroes found themselves both on timers. His partner landed next to him and looked almost  _shy_ and maybe even  _guilty_. Why was she guilty? Was it because of all the late night visits he paid to her as Chat Noir? Slowly becoming his best friend in  _and_ out of the mask, without him even knowing it? She had no reason to be guilty. She was the sole reason he was even happy anymore, he had come to realize. It was sad to think of it like that. And she didn't even know who he was yet. 

"So... um... My place? In 15 minutes?" She asked cautiously, playing with her fingers shyly.

Chat Noir nodded a little and smiled softly. "Of course, milady. But be warned; I'm coming armed with chocolates and hugs fit for a _purr-_ incess." He said with a grin, and Ladybug began to laugh, sounding happier than she had all day.

She calmed down and gave him an endearing smile. "Of course,  _Chaton_. And I'll come armed with Maman's cocoa and enough kisses to sate a knight." She whispered and Chat felt his heart skip a few beats and his hopes soar high enough to interfere a plane. She then swung away on her yo-yo and left Chat with the  _whole world_ on a platter. 

* * *

Chat made good on his promise, hoping down onto her balcony with a bag in tow. It had two boxes in it - one with Belgian chocolate biscuits that were in no way the crappy valentine chocolates, and the other with chocolate and vanilla covered strawberries. He knew his princess. She liked berries just as much as she did sweets and bread, and he was more than willing to give them to her if it could buy him more time to process this information and reveal himself to her.

He was still reeling. His  _Princess_ was  _also_ his  _Ladybug_. How had he not noticed? He wasn't entirely sure, but he noticed  _now_ , and he suddenly felt even more stupid over what he had said to her this afternoon as Adrien.

 _"Er... sorry, I..._ _"_

Ugh. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why had he said sorry? He told himself that he liked Marinette  _just yesterday_ , and he really did. He wanted to get to know her as Adrien, not Chat Noir, and maybe he could get over Ladybug and go after the girl _without a mask_ he thought about so often that it began to make his heart jump in a familiar but not unpleasant way. 

Of course, it was her.

Because it was  _always_ her.

Her skylight opened and her eyes lit up in a way he had never seen them do before, and his breath got caught. He barely registered her "come in" until she ducked back down, and he followed her inside.

Inside, her room was dark, and she had some candles on her desk that were lit, but she didn't have them anywhere else in her room. She chuckled nervously. "I swear, I didn't set this up to look romantic. Our electricity has been out for a couple of days. Trust me, I've never been happier to have gas-powered appliances in my life." She giggled, rubbing the back of her head. "Some idiot accidentally cut the power outside of an Akuma attack so the power company has to come out and fix it. Until then, I have this." She shrugged as she looked over to her things. Her phone was hooked up to a portable charger, one of many considering the small pile of them, with another off to the side. She must have already used that one. Or maybe it was the last one?

He walked over to her desk as she began to light the other candles and began to appreciate this small downside. The candlelight made her almost look ethereal, with that familiar braid spiraling down her shoulder, slipping and trying to rest behind her. 

When she was done, she turned to him and smiled, her blue eyes bright and shining with soft colors. He began to purr unconsciously.  _That_ was a sight he could get used to.

"I'll be right back. I have cocoa downstairs. M-Maybe then we can... t-talk?" she asked timidly, and he nodded and tried his damnedest to give her a comforting smile. She disappeared downstairs to her home to get cocoa, and he unpacked the chocolates he got. The Belgian chocolates weren't terribly expensive, but the strawberries were a little on the expensive side since they were out of season this time of year. They were big and very ripe and dipped in variations of chocolate and vanilla, and while he told himself the biscuits was all she needed, something about the fruits told him that she would love them more than the biscuits that were bound to last her ages. 

Marinette came back up with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and smiled at him, and he smiled back. She walked over and set their mugs down, turning to face him only for her foot to bump into the tins. "Hm?" She looked down and her eyes focused on the gifts, and Chat Noir watched as her heart visibly melted. "Oh, Kitty. You really did bring- hehe." She grinned widely and bent down, picking them up, setting them on the desk. "Well... I'll moon over those later." She looked up at him. "After we've talked." She whispered, and his heartbeat skipped again.  _Shit_. 

* * *

"So..."

God, why was this so awkward? Why couldn't he just talk to her like they  _always_ do? She was even comfortable speaking around Adrien now! It wasn't like he didn't already know!

"You're... Ladybug?"

Marinette began to blush furiously and she only gave a muted nod.

Chat Noir let out a breathless laugh as he steeled himself.  _Get yourself together, Agreste._ "It's a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. You hide pretty well under that mask, milady. Unlike me." He sighed and drooped a little, and he faintly heard Marinette laugh through her nose. Then awkward silence.

"Are you disappointed it was me?"

Chat's head snapped up to look at his nervous companion, partner,  _love of his life_ , biting down on her lip and fiddling with the tuft at the end of her braid, tied together with a red ribbon. "What?!" He whisper-yelled before he had time to think of what he  _really_ wanted to say, and it just kept coming out. "Princess, how could I  _ever_ be disappointed that you were my Ladybug? That you ARE my Ladybug?! If anything, it's the biggest relief and the biggest _"fuck I'm so stupid_ _"_ moment I've ever had in my  _entire_ life. And I've had a lot of stupid idiot moments in my lifetime!" He whispered, which made Marinette giggle.  _Fuck_ he loved her laugh.

"The thing is, Princess... is that it makes a lot of things a lot more simple. I... I had just about given up on  _ever_ winning Ladybug's affections and figured that there was someone in my life that I knew I couldn't live without, someone who made me laugh more than Ladybug ever had and someone who lit up my life more than Ladybug ever could unless she was ready to tell me who she was, which I was afraid that she never would be. Most importantly, I knew that person in my civilian life, and I didn't need to reveal an identity to be with her. And that person, Princess, was you." He said, gently taking her hand in his, and he watched as her face turned red. He bit his lip. "But, my lady, it has  _always_ been you, and it will always  _be_ you. I see that now. And I don't want to hide anything from you anymore. Not now, not ever."

He watched as Marinette fought a war inside her mind, chewing on her lip and gauging her choices carefully.

She soon gave in.

"Okay. I might freak out, badly, especially if you say I know you, but I think I'm ready." She murmured and looked up at him. Her blue eyes shown with determination, conviction, and hope. He only hoped she wouldn't be disappointed in him. 

* * *

"Okay. Plagg, claws in." He chimed the familiar phrase and his guise melted away in a flash of green light, leaving Adrien Agreste standing there in her bedroom. He had been in here before, certainly, but it was one of the very few times he had been in here as Adrien, and he suddenly felt nervous.

 _Especially_ as the sea of her eyes went from a rickety calm to a full-on hurricane of shock, wide and panicked as she stared at him. He felt himself cower. Okay,  _maybe_ he shouldn't have told her. He had thought that Marinette would accept him just as she had all those years ago in school, accept him like she  _always_ did, no matter how weird he got. Now he wasn't so sure.

Marinette didn't say anything. She just put her hand over her mouth and stood up, and began to pace around her darkened room.

She looked confused and uncertain, her hand still over her mouth and her fingers lightly pressing into her cheeks as she paced. 

She looked like this when she couldn't get a design to turn out as she wanted it to. She looked like this when something had upset the normal balance of her day, like an Akuma. She looked like this when she was  _lost_ , Adrien realized. Was it that much of a shock, that much of a disappointment? Maybe he should just go-

But just as he was turning to leave, defeated, rejected by the only person he thought would accept him, he felt her grab him but then gasp and let go as though he had burned her. He turned to her, raising a single eyebrow in confusion as he turned to her. He almost reached out to touch her but stopped dead in his tracks, his blood rushing up to his face, and cursed himself.

He was wearing short sleeves with no jacket. 

It had been so warm, he hadn't even noticed.

Short sleeves with no jacket meant that the lucky charm that Marinette had given him all those years ago during their gaming practice was very plainly visible on his wrist. And Marinette had grabbed just above it.

He wore it all the time, ever since that incident. Because he hadn't wanted anyone to see it at first, he kept it in one of his shirt pockets. Then, during the springs and summers, it moved to rest on his ankle. During the autumns and winters, he had it wrapped around his wrist, covered by his jacket.

He didn't mind anyone seeing it anymore, it just became a habit.

He stared at Marinette's way-too-red face before she began to panic, fumbling, grabbing the purse at her side quickly and opening it. Her kwami came flying out with the lucky charm he had gifted her for her 14th birthday. "Is this what you're looking for, Marinette?" She asked with a happy twirl.

Marinette nodded dumbly, then took it from her, and looked up at Adrien, her face still aflame.

Adrien swallowed thickly. She... kept it? All these years and she had kept it? He wasn't any different, but still! She kept it on her person, all this time.

"I, um... I'm sorry. I knew, I just  _knew_ I was going to freak out, but I hadn't meant to make you uncomfortable, I swear it! I, well, I've just had a crush on Adrien Agreste since _lycée_ , and I freaked out more than I thought I was going to." She said and squeaked a little, hiding behind her hands, looking both more embarrassed and more scared than he had ever seen her.

Adrien's brain short-circuited. Marinette had had a crush on him since  _lycée?_   _Ladybug_ has had a  _crush_ on him since they were, what? 13? 14? 15?

The only word that he could say was "when?" and even that was difficult.

Marinette fidgeted shyly. "S-Since that first day?" She asked nervously and winced. "W-When you gave me that umbrella... w-which I... m-might still have..." She squeaked, gripping the charm she held tighter than ever.

Adrien felt his brain boot back up and his heart recalled how to beat again and he vaguely remembered that in order to live he needed to breathe every once in a while. He stared at her. She had given him the world on a silver dish back on that rooftop when she had snarkily promised him kisses and cocoa. Now she had just smacked him in the face with the whole  _universe_ in the palm of her hand and she probably didn't even know it. Not only was she  _willing_ to love him, she  _already did_.

Adrien couldn't keep it in anymore. He took two very easy, long strides to her and pushed her hands away from her face, and kissed her with every built up emotion. All the frustration and pining and words just resting on the tip of his tongue, all just pushed out into the fore for their kiss. And when she kissed back, he knew that it would take  _months_ for anything to wipe his grin off his face. 

* * *

The next day held more welcome surprises, Adrien found. Ones that he would have never dreamed of seeing.

He had gone home the night before in a daze after offering to pick her up on his way to school, to which she accepted, but when he came to pick her up he hadn't been expecting this.

She was in a green oversized sweater with a big black pawprint on the front that was intentionally big, slipping off to show her shoulders a bit, with black jeans and black leather boots that went up to her knees. She had her hair tied in a green ribbon with a little paw print attached to the center of the little bow. Tikki was resting comfortably in a bag that was designed to look like... a bell? 

But the worst thing - the worst thing was her choker. It was a simple black collar with a little bell hanging off of it, and Adrien just about  _choked_ when he saw it. And then something endearing and as equally embarrassing happened. She lifted her hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle, and her sleeve slipped down just enough to show that she was wearing the charm, like he was. He had stopped choking, and now he was just gawking. She could have dressed like a homeless person but as long as she kept that charm on her wrist, he would have felt more special and loved than Bob flipping Ross. 

She walked up to him with a cheeky grin and stopped right in front of him. She glanced down at his own wrist, and he lifted his arm to show that her charm was also there. She then looked to his jacket. It was something he had put on without thinking this morning - Ladybug merch. A hoodie that was mostly black for the exceptions of the shoulders, the stomach where the front pockets were, the hood, and the forearms. Those parts were the typical Ladybug pattern, red with black spots. She smiled fondly as she ran her hand over the soft material. "Looks like I wasn't the only one who thought this would be a fun idea." She giggled and looked up into his green eyes with her own blue ones. Adrien felt his mind get stuck again.  _Merde_ , he wasn't going to make it through today, was he?

**Author's Note:**

> This Ladybug's costume is based on the one from "When Duty and Desire Meet" by EdenDaphne and midnightstarlightwrites. I just thought it was really pretty and while I won't describe her new costume, you can see it. Just go to the story, here; https://archiveofourown.org/works/9523928/chapters/26758182  
> It's the very first picture of that chapter. I also highly recommend reading it; I love it so far!


End file.
